HARWICH – Harwich could be the eighth Cape Cod town to raise the legal age to buy tobacco to 21.
The Board of Health will hold a public hearing to discuss a regulation change on April 11 – and possibly vote on the measure.
“If you can raise the age you are limiting access to youth who are still subject to a lot of peer pressure and still subject to a lot neurobiological issues with addictions forming,” said Paula Champagne, the town health director. “Medical studies have shown that if you can raise the age you will prohibit a large percentage of lifelong bad addiction.”
According to the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, 90 percent of smokers start before the age of 21 and only 2 percent of total cigarette sales are purchased by buyers under 21.
Champagne said there will be an expansion of the definition of tobacco to include any product containing nicotine such as vapors, candies and lotions.
“It’s very important to limit this, particularly to the youth, because if you are popping some of these candies like other types of candies you are not aware of how much nicotine you are taking and you can actually be poisoned,” Champagne said.
Champagne said the health department has not received any pushback or negative feedback regarding the possible regulation change.
“We have not had any written comment or calls in the office,” she said. “We have tried to circulate as much as possible. We’ve sent the draft regulation to all of our permit holders and have had some good coverage in the [media].”
The state allows town health boards to adopt reasonable rules and regulations.
“It’s not subject to board of selectmen or town meeting vote,” Champagne said. “At the hearing on the 11th if there is not a huge outcry or issues brought before the board that they need to go back and clarify they could very well vote to adopt right after closing the hearing.”
If approved the new regulation would not take effect immediately. Champagne said a proposed start date has not yet been chosen.
A bill was filed in January in the State Senate to raise the age to buy tobacco products to 21 statewide. More than 140 communities in the Commonwealth have passed regulations raising the purchase age from 18 to 21.
Falmouth, Mashpee, Yarmouth, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Provincetown are towns on the Cape which have adopted a similar change. The town of Chatham is also considering an age increase.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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